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By: Adam_the_Mentat, THE WOTC TOOK MY BABY AWAY
May 30 2014 12:00pm
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PureMtgo: Worship Week May 2014


Greetings everyone! For the theme week that is Worship week, I couldn't just throw together a cleric deck or like an Iroas deck or something, deck, I had to go much zanier, much grander than that.

There are many schools of thought on worship as it pertains to religion or the concept of believing in a God, Gods or divinity. I would assume anyone reading this article has the rudimentary knowledge of the fact that countless wars were fought in the name of how to worship. I think it's safe to say that there is no right or wrong answer and I personally believe everyone should have the right to worship who and what they want.


You worship whatever makes you happy, mmm-kay?

So having given that disclaimer, let me give you some basic definitions:

  • A theist believes there is a God who made and governs all creation; but does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, nor in a divine revelation.
  • A deist believes there is a God who created all things, but does not believe in His superintendence and government. He thinks the Creator implanted in all things certain immutable laws, called the Laws of Nature, which act per se, as a watch acts without the supervision of its maker. Like the theist, he does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, nor in a divine revelation.
  • The atheist disbelieves even the existence of a God. He thinks matter is eternal, and what we call “creation” is the result of natural laws.
  • The agnostic believes only what is knowable. He rejects revelation and the doctrine of the Trinity as “past human understanding.” He is neither theist, deist, nor atheist, as all these are past understanding.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
 
This may seem not important to many, but as a personal atheist who borrows some ideas from Buddhism and Nihilism, I don't worship jack-crap. So to me, having a worship week is kind of like having a politics-theme week where I'd make decks based off of democracy and anarchy. I decided, since I've studied religion(s) extensively to make a deck that promotes deity worship and one that abstains from it. If you personally find atheism offensive, I apologize. I don't believe in any form of God, but I don't find others' belief in one as offensive. Finally, if you really are offended, just sort of drink in that it is a fun Human-tribal themed Commander deck, and then really-super-ultra-mega-enjoy the Theism based deck.

Atheism

Remember, if you hate this section there's a second section and second deck all about believing in Gods!

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists. Arguments for atheism range from the philosophical to social and historical approaches. Rationales for not believing in any supernatural deity include the lack of empirical evidence, the problem of evil, the argument from inconsistent revelations, rejection of concepts which cannot be falsified, and the argument from nonbelief. There is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. Atheism is accepted within some religious and spiritual belief systems, including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Raelism, Neopagan movements such as Wicca, and nontheistic religions. Jainism and some forms of Buddhism do not advocate belief in gods, whereas Hinduism holds atheism to be valid, but some schools view the path of an atheist to be difficult to follow in matters of spirituality.

HUMANITATE MAGIS QUAM RELIGIONE NOBIS OPUS EST
(We need humanity more than religion)

Richard Carrier, author of books on atheism, said "I see that the brain is what gives me existence, and I depend on its health for my ability to think and survive. When the brain dies, I die, and when the brain ceases to exist, so do I. I do not find this to be sad. We all enjoy everything we experience, even when it doesn't last. I love life deeply, and as death would end my experience of living and loving I do not want to die. But I do not fear death, because there is no reason to fear the end of fear itself."

So this deck focuses on the power of the Human mind, the Human condition, the Human spirit. Since most atheists believe that when ya die yer dead, this deck does not have any graveyard recursion. Once it's over it's over.

Karona, False God Commander Rationale: Athiests don't believe in God or Gods. We pretty much think anyone claiming to be a God or the God would be false. In the Magic the Gathering story arc that Jeska-Phage-Karona is in, it is proven she is not a real God. Her pick-any-tribe-to-build-around ability also perfectly interlocks with the concept of a tribal Humans deck. Also, you may be saying to yourself, how can your remedy the fact that this false God pumps your humans, who don't believe in God(s)?
1) By proving she is false, it has given them a sense of self-worth in acquiring that knowledge.
2) Atheists do not believe in fluffy-cloud-heavens or fiery-doom-filled-hells. We live life for the life we live now, not for the life that may be given to us. As such, we make the most of our time. When we attack, we attack with the real possibility we may never see existence again, thus, we gotta muscle-up.

Disclaimer 2.0: I am not suggesting all the humans in this deck are in fact atheists in the canon of their respective Magic the Gathering story arcs. Instead, I chose to make a tribal-human deck that does not include clerics, angels, demons, anything overly mystical, anything vaguely religious. This deck is a testament the power humans shaping their own destinies and using their minds.


Atheism

Creatures
1 Daru Stinger
1 Deranged Outcast
1 Thraben Doomsayer
1 Village Cannibals
1 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Akroan Hoplite
1 Azor's Elocutors
1 Beguiler of Wills
1 Benalish Emissary
1 Caller of the Hunt
1 Corrupt Eunuchs
1 Field Surgeon
1 Firebrand Ranger
1 Frontline Medic
1 Ghitu Fire-Eater
1 Gwendlyn Di Corci
1 Wood Sage
1 Hamlet Captain
1 Mine Bearer
1 Imposing Sovereign
1 Imperial Recruiter
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Eternal Witness
1 Rayne, Academy Chancellor
1 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Ophiomancer
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Duplicant
1 Captain of the Mists
1 Riders of Gavony
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Nightshade Peddler
1 Shardless Agent
35 cards
Other Spells
1 Door to Nothingness
1 Butcher's Cleaver
1 Commander's Authority
1 Gather the Townsfolk
1 Vigilante Justice
1 Weight of Conscience
1 Urza's Incubator
1 Volrath's Laboratory
1 Shared Animosity
1 Shared Triumph
1 Peer Pressure
1 Door of Destinies
1 Coat of Arms
1 Call to the Kindred
1 Descendants' Path
1 Cryptic Gateway
1 Mortify
1 Putrefy
1 Vindicate
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Murder
1 Brainstorm
1 Braingeyser
1 Mind Spring
1 Terminate
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Spin into Myth
  28 cards
 Lands
1 Plateau
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Badlands
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Krosan Verge
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Savage Lands
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Temple of the False God
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Rupture Spire
1 Vesuva
1 Strip Mine
1 Thespian's Stage
36 cards
Riders_of_Gavony.jpg
Caller_of_the_Hunt.jpg
Braingeyser.jpg

Again, not suggesting Captain of the Mists dodges his Catholic Grandmother or that Riders of Gavony quietly stops speaking during the "under God" part of the pledge of allegiance — I am just saying that these humans are not relying on divine anything to help or guide them. In a human deck you'd think there'd be (Champion of the Parrish) or Angelic Overseer or Holy Justiciar, but these do not fit thematically in a deck that is brazenly titled 'Atheism.'

Regrettably: Temple Garden, Temple of the False God, Hallowed Fountain and Thraben Doomsayer do not really fit. The lands I need to round out the mana-curve. The 'Doomsayer' pops out extra humans, and I couldn't cut him. I choose to think he just really likes Invader Zim, and constantly sings Gir's doom song.

Door to Nothingness and Oblivion Ring symbolically represent that atheists believe that nothing happens when you die. That's right, death is a big ol' Seinfeld Episode. Make use of the time you have, folks.

I'm pretty sure Corrupt Eunuchs are pretty atheist. Who believes in God in a world where they can snip off your bits?

Even though some of the creatures have a subtype of Cleric, these are usually medics or surgeons. Science over mysticism, but Magic the Gathering doesn't have a subtype of "Summon Medical Professional." In Medievally, fantastical times, clerics were the doctors.

Adaptive Automaton and Duplicant represent robots, which are by-default atheist (See any number of Futurama episodes in which Bender exclaims 'Oh Your God'), and produced by the scientific community which is predominately atheist. Shardless Agent represents a cyborg, half human half machine (read: artifact).

Ophiomancer symbolically represents Alan Moore, who worships Glycon, the hoax-God and is mostly atheist, but says he handles snakes. Most snake-handling does occur in a church, but other religious folk are like, "don't associate with the snake-handlers, they are the weird kids who eat glue," and make them sit at the atheist table.

"One word balloon in From Hell completely hijacked my life… A character says something like, 'The one place gods inarguably exist is in the human mind'. After I wrote that, I realised I'd accidentally made a true statement, and now I'd have to rearrange my entire life around it." ~ Alan Moore

Brainstorm, Mind Spring & Braingeyser are in the deck to promote the idea of human intellect and knowledge as the only bastion of the unknown we need, and to rely on logic over mysticism.

I chose not to include much graveyard recursion, to highlight the idea that once someone is dead, they are dead. However, I did include Xathrid Necromancer, because the card is epic and awesome, and because the zombie apocalypse is not the rapture. It could be science-induced (see Resident Evil: the T-virus, Umbrella, etc.)

Peer Pressure is included in the deck because humans are plentiful in the game o' Magic. In fact, even though I know some aren't online because it's gatherer, but gatherer has 1,560 creatures that are human. It's a fairly safe bet your opponent may be running some human creatures in their deck, and since all of your creatures are human, the spell will net you some free creatures.

Nightshade Peddler & Kumano work in tandem to be pretty awesome.

Cryptic Gateway is actually symbolic of the Stargate, which disproved Egyptian Gods (fictionally).

The rest of the deck is fairly easy to comprehend. There's removal and answers, but no Damnation or Wrath of God because that's too Theist-y, there's a bunch of humans and a bunch of tribal-support cards.

If you want to 86 the ol' atheism sub-theme of the deck, I made a Prismatic Singleton Rainbow Stairwell /Prismatic Stairwell Highlander Human-themed deck, which you can use as a reference to rework this deck into your own liking.

No fluff, no frills, hardly any recursion, no religious-themed cards. Just humans making their own (Door of) destinies. No Gods, no worship. The anti-worship worship-week deck.


We rocked atheism. Now for theism.


Theism

Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.

Most people, even agnostics, are theists.

In order to represent Theism, I did something very Timmy. I grabbed all 15 gods and slapped them in a deck, with Karona as the commander, and I went from there.


 Thiesm

 Creatures
1 Athreos, God of Passage
1 Ephara, God of the Polis
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Iroas, God of Victory
1 Karametra, God of Harvests
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
1 Phenax, God of Deception
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Child of Alara
1 Deity of Scars
1 Deus of Calamity
1 Divinity of Pride
1 Dominus of Fealty
1 Ghastlord of Fugue
1 Nobilis of War
1 Overbeing of Myth
1 Oversoul of Dusk
1 Progenitus
1 Captain Sisay
1 Sakashima the Impostor
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Elvish Piper
1 Riptide Shapeshifter
1 Maelstrom Archangel
1 Chromanticore
1 Utopia Tree
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
34 cards
 Other Spells
1 Prismatic Omen
1 Belbe's Portal
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Maelstrom Nexus
1 Omniscience
1 Tithe
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Shard Convergence
1 All Suns' Dawn
1 Conflux
1 Sol Ring
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Spitting Image
1 Dreadbore
1 Vindicate
1 Condemn
1 Angelic Destiny
1 Gem of Becoming
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Day of Judgment
1 Worship
1 Beacon of Immortality
1 Liliana Vess
1 Font of Mythos
28 cards

Lands
1 Plateau
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Badlands
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
1 Taiga
1 Savannah
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Krosan Verge
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Savage Lands
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Temple of the False God
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Crystal Quarry
1 Vesuva
1 Strip Mine
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Thespian's Stage
37 cards

Heliod, God of the Sun
Keranos, God of Storms
Damnation.jpg

At first, I wasn't going to include Phenax, because he seems the least useful. Then I mused that Pharika (what is it with these Ph gods?) wasn't all too useful in a deck with mostly indestructible half-creatures either. I kept them in, though, because having all 15 Gods, thus turning the deck into a mini-tribal-God deck, was exactly what my inner-Timmy wanted.

In order to help up the devotion counts, and to keep the theme of Gods and worship, I included all but two of the Avatars from the Shadowmoor-Eventide mini-block, as they were worshipped and revered in the set. Before Theros brought us the type God, Avatar was mainly used in its stead. Names like Deity of Scars and Overbeing of Myth solidify that thinking. I didn't include Demigod of Revenge or Godhead of Awe, because both seemed fairly useless in this deck.

I went searching for other 'deities' to include after the initial 25 (which was trimmed to 23). I included Kozilek, to represent the Eldrazi and their comparison to elder-gods (Cthulhu). I popped in Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker since he has been worshipped by followers for countless ages in Magic's timeline and history. Child of Alara is here as a giant Space Baby with clearly god-like powers. Proggy the epic hydra was also worshipped on Zendikar. Arcanis may not be a God, but he's got the omnipotent part going for him and he's hard to kill. Karona, an avatar, is also worshipped as a God.

The angel and the chromanticore are in here to help up the devotion count. Sisay finds so many of your cards in this deck, silly not to include her. Sakashima can duplicate any one of your gods to have double the ability (think of having two Keranoses). Piper and Riptide cheat things into play, and Utopia Tree is the Magic card representation of the tree of knowledge.

The rest of the cards supplement the tribal-theme, or are answers to common problems, are invoke card-draw or mana-ramp. Damnation, Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, Omniscience... are all part of the divinity theme. I thought Angelic Destiny was hilarious to have an Angel-God, and I think Tithe is just a priceless and witty inclusion. Beacon of Immortality is included to maintain your own godhood.


For this article, I decided to make both decks and then pass all the cards from my Theism deck to a couple of different (close) friends on MTGO, and I piloted the Atheism deck. So some of the playtesting done here was against each other, as if this was a Commander-Duel-Decks.

Game 1:

Opening hand (for me): Rayne, Overgrown Tomb, Cryptic Gateway, Grand Coliseum, Reflecting Pool, Akroan Hoplite, Terminate. Opening hand (for my opponent, my friend Chris): Phenax, Command Tower, Ciy of Brass, Vindicate, Sisay, Arcane Sanctum, DoJ.
Turn 1 I play the Coliseum, and draw a Brainstorm. Next turn I cast the hoplite, and draw a Vesuva. Third turn I play Rayne, draw a Bayou. Fourth turn I cast the Mine Bearer I drew, and the Brainstorm. My opponent's fourth turn yields Sisay, and he begins tutoring every turn there-after for needed cards, starting with Mikokoro. By turn seven I have done some damage with my various human weenies, but he plops down a Dominus of Fealty followed by a Mogis, God of Slaughter. Now every turn he's either taking a creature temporarily or causing me to lose 2 life (or sacrifice). It quickly goes one-sided as some of his stuff is indestructible and unaffected by my removal, and he has plenty of removal for my humans which are not stacking up to gods. Once he casts Erebos and then the beacon a turn later, I concede.

Game 2:

Game 2 proceeded similarly to Game 1. I was playing a different opponent, my friend Mark. I realized that the God deck could be taken out probably by other commander decks, but that Humans was not cutting it.

Game 3: Atheism vs. Xenagos, God of Revels:

This game was sort of fast and aggressive on both ends. I lead with a turn two Deranged Outcast and a turn three Thraben Doomsayer and on turn four a Xathrid Necromancer. He got out a BoP, a Radha, Heir to Keld, and a Jitte. I vindicated the Jitte, and sac'ed a human token to put counters on the necromancer, and get a zombie. He got out a Chameleon Colossus, but I got to Spin into Myth it, and attack with a bunch of my humans. We traded blows back and forth until he had enough mana to cast Spawning Grounds and then, a couple turns later, he cast Where Ancients Tread.I felt good about the loss, though, as we traded a lot of back and forth and I did sneak in 22 damage throughout the game.

Game 4: Theism vs. Ashling the Pilgrim & 99 Mountains:

While I have a soft-spot in my heart for this deck, and it did come out swinging and smack me around a bit, it did not stand up to indestructible gods. Once I got out a Nobilis of War, and Heliod, God of the Sun I kept attacking and putting out the occasional cleric until I won.

Game 5: Theism vs. Doran, the Siege Tower:

This game was really fun. I drew a beautiful hand: Sol Ring, Gem, Belbe's Portal, Vesuva, Thassa, God of the Sea, Crumbling Necropolis, Tithe. I played my necropolis and passed. He put down a Savannah and cast Safewright Quest, grabbing an Overgrown Tomb. I drew into Underground Sea, but chose to Vesuva his Savannah. I dropped the ring, and passed. He put out the tomb and paid two life to put out a Nyx-Fleece Ram. I drew into the ghastlord. I cast the portal, and called God. He cast Cultivate after dropping a Rogue's Passage. I drew into Karametra, I used the portal and dropped Kara and then cast the Tithe, grabbing Tundra and Scrubland. He Dropped Doran, and cast Thoughtseize on me and Thassa went bye bye. I took five from the ram. I drew Damnation, and cast it. He recast Doran. I cast the Gem and activated it, eventually casting the Ghastlord and drawing into Erebos and Vindicate, hosing his commander again. I Got out Phenax too and eventually got the win!


Pardon the pun, but I hope I didn't get too preachy about Atheism for your tastes, and I hope you enjoyed the theistic, and dare I say polytheistic deck I made as a counter. I think now that I am not trying to fit them entirely into a theme week theme, I would fine-tune the tribal humans, tribal gods aspect. Xenograft? (Changelings)?

It's fun to note in none of the play-testing did I actually cast Karona.

Until next time ya'll.


(Including the atheists!)


(Adam E. Clayton)
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